UP villages tense after violence

Lucknow: Tensions prevailed Monday in the two Uttar Pradesh villages where communal clashes had erupted a day earlier, police said.

There was heavy deployment of police personnel in Kanpur's Ghatampur area and Mainpuri's Bhogaon area, an official told IANS.

However, no untoward incident has been reported since Sunday night.

In the first incident, violence had broken out in Ghatampur's Bhetargaon village Sunday after two communities clashed and over two dozen shops were set on fire.

One person was killed and over a dozen, including three policemen, were injured in the clash over a minor theft case.

District officials said five policemen were suspended for dereliction of duty.

In the second incident, two communities clashed with each other in Alipur Kheda village of Mainpuri after reports that a girl of a community was raped by a boy of another community surfaced.

A mob tied the youth to a tree and tried to set him on fire.

When the sub-divisional magistrate rushed to the crime scene and tried to save the youth, villagers attacked his vehicle and stoned the police party accompanying him. Police fired blanks to disperse the unruly crowd.

Three people were detained in the matter.

Police, however, trashed the rape charge and said two were in a relationship. Alipur Kheda was singed with similar violence July 23 when a girl from one community had eloped with boy of another community.